Despite having become known as a prospect killer, taking the 0’s from Raul Rosas Jr., Cameron Saaiman, Isaac Dulgarian and Austin Bashi, it wasn’t a prospect that Christian Rodriguez faced at UFC Mexico on Saturday, but rather the experienced Brazilian Melquizael Costa.
At age 28, Costa had 29 fights to his name and was entering his 30th at UFC Mexico City, with “CeeRod” a year younger, with nearly half as many pro fights.
To start things off on Saturday, Rodriguez immediately pushed Costa to the fence. The Brazilian momentarily tripped Rodriguez with a teep to the leg, but CeeRod got right back up and forced a clinch. An outside trip from Rodriguez got Costa down, but only for a few seconds. Once back in the clinch, they exchanged knees to the body for about a minute before Costa tried a trip of his own. With both of them having an underhook in the clinch, they were stuck in somewhat of a stalemate.
Despite very little happening in the clinch, the referee didn’t warn them a single time for a lack of activity. Out of nowhere, Rodriguez successfully tripped Costa and snagged a guillotine as the Brazilian was getting back up. Costa reversed the position and ended the round on top. With the submission attempt being by far the most important part of the first five minutes, the mostly uneventful round probably went the American’s way.
At the start of round two, Rodriguez landed a leaping right hand as he pushed Costa back and forces a clinch yet again. This time, Costa didn’t accept the clinch and fought it off. Another blitz from CeeRod ended with him diving on Costa’s leg, but the Brazilian fended him off. A beautifully timed outside trip from Rodriguez sent Costa flying in the air, but he was unable to keep Costa down. A big knee to the head from Costa stunned CeeRod and Costa started to pounce. With Rodriguez trying to survive, Costa locked a modified guillotine attempt, but the American was able to reverse. Costa followed it up with a reversal of his own and ended the round on top. The second round ended with the fight seemingly tied 19-19.
Immediate pressure from CeeRod started round three and allowed him to trip Costa to the ground once again. Costa eventually reversed the position and they got back to the feet. Rodriguez landed a big right hand on the break and tripped Costa again. Once back up, the Brazilian answered with a solid left. Rodriguez tried to get Costa’s back after another trip, but he was unsuccessful. The two then started to exchange big elbows. A clean right hand had Costa moving away and the two stood in the middle of the octagon for the first time in the fight. Another successful trip from CeeRod got Costa down. The exhaustion appeared to finally set in, as this time, the Brazilian stayed down. With Rodriguez taking round three, this fight came down to how the judges saw round one.
Ultimately, the judges all saw it 29-28 for Melquizael Costa. With this hard-fought win, the Brazilian extended his win streak to three. As for Rodriguez, he will look to bounce back from his third career loss, perhaps against another undefeated prospect.
Official Result: Melquizael Costa def. Christian Rodriguez by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
